Saturday, July 18, 2009

Stage 14: Colmar to Besançon

Two riders finished behind the main group at 7:39 behind the stage winner today: Dmitriy Murayev (Team Astana; Giro Lanterne Rouge), and Johannes Frohlinger of Milram.

Simon Spilak of Lampre, who finished 22 minutes in arrears yesterday, was permitted to continue despite arriving after the cutoff because of the poor weather conditions for the stage. He remains in a very respectable 130th place overall.

Kenny Robert Van Hummel keeps his position as Lanterne Rouge today, having accumulated a 26 minute gap in aggregate time behind the nearest rider in the peloton.

The nearest rider? Former Lanterne RougeYauheni Hutarovich of FdJ. Alan Perez Lezaun, the other former Lanterne Rouge of this Tour, is in 147th position.